Chapter 43: The Bear Mobilizes for the Orphanage

Chapter 43:
The Bear Mobilizes for the Orphanage

 

I WENT BACK to the bear house and thought over the orphanage’s three bare necessities. Clothes could wait; food would become a problem again in a few days; they were fine for shelter for a while.

The biggest problem was definitely food. Just like the stall guy was saying, I couldn’t restock them every day, but I couldn’t take back what I offered either. While I was mulling it over, I heard a knock at the door and Fina calling me.

“Fina, are you all done butchering?”

“Yes, and the Guildmaster is calling you.”

Since I wasn’t making any headway with the orphanage, I headed over to the guild with Fina in tow.

“Oh, you’re here,” the Guildmaster himself welcomed me.

“So, how’s the black viper?”

“Yeah, we’ve got it put away in cold storage.”

We popped in to give it a look; the mass of skin, meat, and fangs was piled like a mountain.

“How much would the guild want?”

“There’s no such thing as too much.”

“How about half?”

“A little more.”

“Then how about I take a third?”

“Hmm, I suppose that’d be fine.”

The Guildmaster signed off on the paperwork, and I got my guaranteed portion into bear storage.

“Here’s the mana gem. I actually would have preferred it if you’d sold this, too.”

Since you needed mana gems to make a ton of things, I’d been holding them for myself lately. I had no idea what I’d make from this one, but I didn’t intend on selling it.

“It’ll take a while to pay you back with this volume.”

“I’m fine with getting it whenever.”

When I left, the sun was starting to set. I headed straight to the bear house, finished dinner and my bath, and laid down on my bed.

I couldn’t come up with a way to help the orphanage with the materials I had from the black viper. I could sell it all and funnel the money to them, but then that’d be it.

I pulled up my status screen. Lately I’d only been fighting low-ranking monsters, so I hadn’t been increasing levels. The black viper must have put me over the top; I’d gone up a level and picked up a new skill.

 

Bear Transporter Gate

By setting up a gate, can move between gates.

When more than three gates are in place, can travel to a specific location by picturing it.

This gate can only be opened with the bear hand.

 

Oooh, I thought, now that’s useful.

Still, I’d have to set them up. It would’ve been super convenient if I could just picture a place in my head and warp there. This was more than useful enough, though, so I was grateful. I wanted to try it out right away, so I got up from my bed and set up a gate in my room. A double door with bear reliefs installed itself in the bare wall. It was a lot bigger than I’d expected—wide enough for Kumayuru and Kumakyu to go through and have room to spare. I headed to a room on the first floor, set up a second gate, and opened it onto my room upstairs.

If I was going to set up gates outside, I needed to figure out places to put them that I wouldn’t regret. It wasn’t like they’d disappear after I used the skill. I had to consider times when I’d track in dirt, or if I’d be traveling with my bears, and there were a lot more inconveniences to consider than I’d expected. I wouldn’t have had to think so much about logistics if it was just teleportation, and it would’ve been nice to be able to warp out of fights, but oh well.

Anyway, I took down the bear transport gate, thinking about when Fina would come by.

Hmm, I thought. Bear transport gate sure is a mouthful. Maybe bear gate for short, then?

For a moment, I felt a chill. Maybe I’d caught a cold. I decided to leave the name for later and went to bed early for the day.

 

That morning, I made another fried egg and veggie sandwich for breakfast. As I nibbled on the bread, the god of good ideas blessed me.

Right, I thought, I’ve got this on lockdown. I took a decisive bite.

Eggs. If I could just produce eggs and sell them…

 

After breakfast, I headed to the merchants’ guild. I felt like there were a lot more people there than when I’d been before. No, there were definitely a lot more people than before. They were flooding the entrance. I wondered if I could even get inside, with all the commotion.

While I waited for the congestion to clear up, I overheard some familiar chatter.

“It’s the bear.”

“You don’t mean that bear?”

“The black viper bear.”

When I took a step forward, a path parted for me. It was almost like Moses parting the red sea. I went in without hesitation and looked around for Milaine, who had helped me last time. I spotted her, but it looked like she was busy with someone else. Just as I started to gripe about it under my breath, she finished up and noticed me.

“Yuna!” she called out. “What’s going on?”

“There was something I wanted to ask you about, Milaine.”

I looked at the line of people waiting at her station and wondered if she was even allowed to talk to me.

“I’ll hear you out.”

“Are you sure?”

“It’s fine. I’ll switch out with someone. Let’s talk over here.”

The people in line were kind of giving me scary looks. I couldn’t help it since I’d cut, but it wasn’t my fault, all right? Milaine flagged down a clerk to take her spot and took me to another room.

“It’s kind of crowded here. Did something happen?”

“You’re asking, of all people?”

She looked at me in exasperation.

“…?”

How was I supposed to know what was going on at the merchants’ guild?

“Ahh…”

Why was she sighing?

“Looks like you’re serious. Everyone is here to buy the materials from the black viper you killed. It’s been a madhouse since yesterday. We only have so much, but everyone wants tons.”

“Really?”

“The skin and fangs are pretty popular. The meat is high-grade too, so there are merchants who take it to the royal capital to sell it.”

“Is it really that popular?”

“Yes, and it’s all because of you. We’re making a killing because of you.”

She bowed her head slightly.

“So, what did you need to ask about? I’ll go quite the lengths if you need something.”

I was thankful for that. I didn’t hesitate to ask her.

“So there’s an orphanage, right?”

“You mean the one at the edge of town?”

“Yeah. Could you sell me the land near there?”

“The land near the orphanage? I’ll go look a few things up, so please give me a moment.”

Milaine left the room and came back with documents in a flash, as usual.

“Yes, it should be fine. No one uses that land.”

“Can people not use it because of the orphanage?”

“To put it perhaps too bluntly, they are uneducated children. Even if someone did want to build there, they’d be worried about them causing trouble. And since it’s at the edge of town, there aren’t many people around that land as it is.”

I supposed that some people would consider having dirty kids around a mood-killer.

“So, that means I can buy it, right?”

“Yes, there’s no issue with that.”

“In that case, sell me some of that land.”

“Beg pardon, but what do you plan on using it for?”

“Hmmm, it’s a secret.”

“A secret?”

“Since I’m not sure if I’ll be successful yet.”

I paid the amount she indicated and received the deed to the land around the orphanage. I went back to the bear house and set up a transport gate in the storage house. Once I set that up, I left town and called out Kumayuru. If I went now, I could get there by the end of the day.

I rode back to the town where I’d beaten the black viper. It was a faster trip with just the one passenger. I kicked myself for not checking my status before I left the first time around; I could’ve spared myself the trouble today and set up the gate on this end. Not that there was any point complaining now.

This time, I didn’t go into the village; I headed up into the mountains a little ways away. I was running out of daylight.

“I wonder if there’s a good spot.”

After a few minutes of searching, I found the perfect place under a cliff.

Maybe this would work? I thought. No one would probably wander by here, either.

I went down the cliff and dug out a tunnel. I made it wide enough for Kumayuru and Kumakyu to fit and dug out a cave in the back. I made a couple of bear lights so I could keep working in the dark.

I decided to leave the details for a later day, blocked off the entrance with an earth spell, and set up a transport gate.

“I’m home.”

I was back at the bear house storage instantaneously. This was definitely a handy skill to have.